In the developmental literature it is hypothesized that a child initiates bids for joint attention to attract the adult's attention to meet a social goal of sharing information or an experience rather than to obtain access to a desired item ( Schertz & Odom, 2004). Indeed, the absence of joint attention before 1 year of age is one of the earliest symptoms and indicators of autism ( Baron-Cohen, Allen, & Gillberg, 1992). observed that children with autism were more likely to respond to bids for joint attention than to initiate bids for joint attention compared to their typically developing peers. Several studies have shown that children with autism display deficits in joint attention skills ( Charman, 1998 Jones & Carr, 2004 MacDonald et al., 2006 Mundy, 1995 Mundy & Crowson, 1997).
Late in the first year of life, typically developing infants begin to respond to adults' bids for joint attention and to initiate joint attention in response to an interesting object or event ( Butterworth, 1995). The earliest topography of joint attention involves coordinated gaze shift between an object or event in the environment and a familiar person ( Tomasello, 1995). Bakeman and Adamson (1984) note that children typically develop nonverbal joint attention between 9 and 18 months of age.
Researchers have distinguished two forms of joint attention: (a) responses to another person's bid for joint attention and (b) initiations for joint attention ( Jones & Carr, 2004 Mundy & Willoughby, 1996). Joint attention is recognized as one of the earliest forms of communication in young children and involves the coordinated attention between a social partner and an object or event in the environment ( Bruner, 1975 Mundy, Sigman, & Kasari, 1994).